井 → 解
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
Line 3
九三 井渫不食。為我心惻。可用汲。王明。並受其福。
Nine in the third place means: The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, For one might draw from it. If the king were clear-minded, Good fortune might be enjoyed in common.
Line 4
六四 井甃无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The well is being lined. No blame.
Line 5
九五 井冽。寒泉食。
Nine in the fifth place means: In the well there is a clear, cold spring From which one can drink.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
井者有悔，渴蜺為怪。不亟徙鄉，家受其殃。
The well brings regret; a thirsty mirage becomes a portent. If one does not swiftly leave this place, the household suffers the calamity.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood — but this well brings regret. A strange mirage shimmers like a thirsty rainbow, signaling contamination. If one does not quickly relocate, the household will suffer disaster. The verse takes the well's own hexagram as source and speaks directly to its shadow: a fouled well that poisons rather than nourishes. The 'thirsty rainbow' (渴蜺) was an omen of drought and corruption in Han-era meteorology. From The Well to Deliverance, thunder and rain finally break the tension. The cursed well demands the decisive action Xie offers: release from the old site, liberation from the contaminated source, moving swiftly before the poison spreads further.
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